Wei Li

Wei Li, Ph.D., is a Professor and Knights Templar Eye Foundation Presidential Chair in Ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine. His research focuses on ligandomics, a revolutionary technology for identifying disease-selective ligands and developing targeted therapies for ocular vascular diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, and choroidal neovascularization. His lab pioneered function-first and therapy-first approaches to characterize ligands like secretogranin III (Scg3), which selectively regulate pathological angiogenesis without affecting healthy vasculature.

• Education: PhD (University of Nebraska Medical Center, 1991), MS (Zhejiang University College of Medicine, 1986), BSc (Zhangjiang University College of Pharmacy, 1983)
• Research Themes: Neurovascular crosstalk, anti-angiogenic therapies, ligandomics-driven drug discovery

Dr. Li leads NIH-funded projects to advance next-generation ligandomics technology, develop anti-Scg3 therapies, and investigate disease mechanisms in ocular diseases. His work bridges basic science and clinical translation, with patents on Scg3-neutralizing antibodies and ligandomics methodologies.

Grants & Funding:

• NIH R43EY031643-01A1: Next-generation ligandomics technology ($226,255; 2020–2021)
• NIH/NEI R24EY028764: Anti-retinopathy of prematurity therapy ($9.1M; 2019–2023)
• American Diabetes Association 1-18-IBS-172: Scg3 as a diabetic retinopathy target ($345K; 2018–2020)

Intellectual Property: Patents on Scg3-neutralizing antibodies and ligandomics techniques (e.g., US 8,754,013; pending applications).